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Ernesto Miranda, aka "Smokey," was a co-founder of the infamous Mara Salvatrucha gang in Los Angeles. At 38, he was studying law and working to keep kids out of gangs. All that ended Saturday night, when he was shot to death, apparently in retaliation for his anti-gang efforts.

In the first part of a two-part interview, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins guides us through the new spoken-word four-CD box set Poetry on Record: 98 Poets Read Their Work, 1888-2006.

Nigeria's Senate kills a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the country's president to run for a third term. Critics said the proposal would widen regional, ethnic and religious rifts. They hailed its failure as a victory for democracy.

Everyone suddenly wants to learn Mandarin Chinese. The problem is that there are few credentialed teachers. Now the Chinese government is making plans to develop teaching partnerships with U.S. public school districts.

A report in Thursday's USA Today reveals that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly collecting records from AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth documenting phone calls within the United States. The agency reportedly wants to create a database of calls to help track terrorist activity. Madeleine Brand speaks with USA Today reporter Leslie Cauley, who broke the story.

In honor of Mother's Day, The Kitchen Sisters linger in the room in the house where families gather and children are fed, where all good parties begin and end. The room where the best stories are told.

Revelations that a Brussels-based company has been collecting international financial records to aid the CIA's anti-terrorism efforts have led to many questions about the cooperative, called SWIFT.

The Sangam Trio melds the musical traditions of American jazz with East Indian influence. The group made its New York debut this past week. Two members of the trio — jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd and Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain, join host Debbie Elliott for a performance.

The Bush administration says its program to monitor international financial records has a number of safeguards that prevent violation of privacy rights. But critics note that those safeguards are voluntary because this particular type of data tracking isn't covered by U.S. laws against government intrusion into private financial records.

When the World Cup begins in Germany next month, fans from England will be faced with the task of not being too rude to the host country. Part of the problem: a lingering bitterness about World War II. Comic actor and writer John Cleese has a song to help: "Don't Mention the War."